WHO IS THE MOST POWERFUL GOD, LORD SHIVA OR LORD VISHNU?
INTRODUCTION
Both Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu contain great powers, and we could see in some pictures, that Lord Shiva worships Lord Vishnu, whereas, in some pictures, we could see Lord Vishnu worships Lord Shiva. The union of both of these two powerful gods are known as “SANKARANARAYANAN”, and a popular temple is dedicated for both of them in Sankaran Koil, Thirunelveli District, and that Temple is known as Sankaranarayanan Temple. With the powers of these two gods, Lord Ayyappa was created. The great Shiva avatar, Lord Hanuman still worships the Vishnu avatar, Lord Rama, and likewise, the great Vishnu avatar, Lord Parusurama still worships Lord Shiva in the Mahendragiri Mountain Ranges in India. And both of these gods didn’t find any differentiation between them. While Lord Vishnu is considered as the god of protection, Lord Shiva does his job of destruction of the universe during the time of deluge. When the great Vishnu Avatar, Lord Krishna takes the divine form (Vishwaroopa Darshan), we could find the presence of Lord Shiva in the body of Lord Krishna, and likewise, when Lord Shiva had transformed himself in the form of gigantic fire flames, and stood before Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma, both of them were unable to find the top and bottom of that huge fire flames.
Actually god is only one, and he transforms himself in various forms, in order to make his devotees to worship his different forms. In the Suratapalli Shivan Temple, we could see the idol of Lord Shiva in the form of sleeping posture, which resembles similar to Lord Ranganatha, a form of Lord Vishnu. The great child devotee Prahalada had worshipped Lord Shiva also in the form of Shivalingam, though his favourite god was Lord Vishnu. While Lord Shiva appears in the form of matted hair and wears the snakes on his neck, Lord Vishnu used to wear precious ornaments. While Lord Shiva stays in the Mountains, Lord Vishnu stays in the Divine Ocean. When once, Lord Shiva and Ma Parvati had questioned to Lord Vishnu, to tell about which one is more beautiful, whether Shiva or Parvati? On hearing that, Lord Vishnu didn’t get panic. He immediately created a mirror and asked them to see their faces on the mirror. And from the reflection of the mirror, it was clearly known, that Ma Parvati looks more beautiful than her lovely consort Lord Shiva. Both of them were very much satisfied with the cleverness of Lord Vishnu, appreciated him and also they have decided to grant boons to him. But Lord Vishnu politely refused to accept the boons, and instead of that, he was willing to grant boons to them.
We can also find some Shiva-Vishnu Temples in Chennai. Shiva-Vishnu Temples situated in Periyar Nagar and T.Nagar, Chennai, are considered as most popular temples of Lord Shiva and Vishnu, and these temples are being constructed in order to make both Shiva and Vishnu devotees to realise that both of these two gods are one and the same.
“OM SRI SANKARANARAYANARE NAMAHA”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR